feeling funny

My pm went in on the 23rd of February for a 2nd degree heart block & bradycardia. They also did an EP study, hoping for another ablation for my tachy, but weren't able to find the source. I am healing up well & recovery has been pretty good. I have 2 questions, though...

1st one~ It is still very hard to sleep...I end up on my left side or stomach multiple times a night-even with the giant pillow nest I create. Ideas? Tips? I am bruised again today, my bruise was a dime sized yellow spot & today...after sleeping on the darn thing over & over again, I am more bruised! I was thinking of sleeping on the couch tonight, but it seems lonely. Ideas would be invaluable!

2nd question~I had tachycardia prior to the pm implant, I have had 2 EP studies & 1 ablation for it. It happened rarely (2-3 times/week, while sleeping, 1-2 times/week in the am only) prior to the pm implant.Now I have a "fluttery racing" heart rate now. It comes on almost every time I stand up (even slowly) and occasionally when I turn around or sit. It doesn't last very long (10-30 seconds) and ranges between 120 & 160. I get a bit dizzy, but not near passing out or anything.

I see my cardiologist on the 12th for my follow up appointment. At that time I guess I will get set up for some machine that will be at my home. What else happens at these follow ups?

Thank you all for the amazing support! Thank you Blake for all of the time you put into this site!

~Jessi

3 Comments

healing

by Tracey_E - 2010-03-09 09:03:40

I'm running into the same thing sleeping! I love to sleep on my left but am still too sore to stay that way for long. I don't make a nest out of the pillows, I hug one to my chest with my left arm. It works pretty well.

Two thoughts on why you're feeling more racing now. One, it could be rate response. This senses movement and raises your hr. If you have a pm for tachy and av block, you may not even need this turned on. It's for people whose rate does not go up enough with exercise. If you do need it, you may need the sensitivity turned down. Other possibility is you didn't feel all of it before because of the block block, your ventricles didn't beat every time the atria did. With the pm, now they do so your heart is in sync but you're feeling every irregularity.

All docs are different, hard to say what they'll do. They might do an interrogation (you should have had at least one in the hospital,easy!) and check the incision. That's about it! Once we heal, follow up is just downloading the data every few months. This is my 4th pm. My follow up was about thirty seconds to make sure the incision was healing. I don't have another appt until my next regular pm check.

pillow

by SaraC - 2010-03-09 11:03:56

I always used to sleep on my left side before the pm (2 1/2 years ago) and just in the last few months have found that a smallish pillow (cylindrical snooze (the kind with little tiny beads in it)) behind my back stops me rolling that way and acts like the back of a couch to prop me up, but doesn't take up masses of space. It's made a world of difference to my ability to sleep.

Good luck! Sara

sleep

by daisy41763@yahoo.com - 2010-03-10 09:03:48

My pacer is on the left side.
At first I couldnt hardly find any comfortable position.
If I laid on my left side it hurt and if I laid on the right side it felt like it was going to slide and like gravity was pulling it. I had my pm installed nov 06.
Snuggling with a soft pillow helps until you can get used to the device being there.

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